Hallamshire

The ‘shire-within-a-shire’ is fairly common in the north of England.

The central authority found it difficult to keep up-to-date with the collection of taxes and the administration of justice in places where wide stretches of mountain, moorland and forest separated the inhabited districts from one another.

They tended to delegate such duties to semi-independent deputies in defined areas.

Such a little ‘shire’ existed in the south-western corner of Yorkshire - Hallamshire. Both its name and the extent of its boundaries have been matters of dispute among historians.

See our short guide below for more information on the origins and extent of ‘Hallamshire’.